France 2017: Results Thread

[mountvernon]

Just glancing at maps of the French results, as someone with limited knowledge of French politics, but with a fascination with political geography:

I see that Macron performed very well in western France.  Traditionally, this was a conservative Catholic region.  I gather that its politics has become less distinctive in recent years.    So what would explain such strong support for Macron?  A relatively prosperous economy?  A Christian Democratic Europhilia?  The support of Bayrou?  Or of Fillon?  Am I right to see a pattern of Le Pen not performing terribly well in historically Catholic regions?

Otherwise, the patterns make sense to me.  Le Pen was only really strong in the northern rust belt, and the traditional extreme-right strongholds on the Mediterranean coast (resentment of immigrants, ancestral pied-noir anger, high unemployment).  But she also did well in northeastern departments such as Haute-Marne and Meuse.  Nationalist sentiment in a part of France that suffered greatly in the two world wars?  A traditionally right-wing region?  Or just economically depressed rural areas?  And there seems to be a bit of a Le Pen belt about 80 km north and west of Paris -- she did relatively well in the departments of Eure and Oise.  White-flight exurbs? 

Like Hillary Clinton or "Remain," Macron was very strong in the largest cities.  Not just Paris, but also Lyon, Bordeaux, and Toulouse.  Lille and the cities of the far south were exceptions, but not surprising ones.  He also seemed to be relatively strong in some parts of the rural southwest -- the political tradition there is left-wing, non?